‘I have to go potty!’ – A Destination Wedding TR About This Page:

[OhToodles!]

Who: Me, Kelly (30)
DS, Dylan (3)
Mom, Gail
Dad, Jerry
and 23 other friends & family

When: Sunday, November 28 – Sunday, December 5, 2010

Where: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Majestic Elegance Resort & Spa

Why: My brother’s wedding



Well first off I didn’t take notes (none, nada, zip, zilch) so this will be more of a pictorial trip report. And seeing that I took my 3 year old, you can see where I came up with this trip report title, plus traveling to a foreign country in the Caribbean, several others used this line as well on the trip. J

I’ll be back with more later – I just went back to work last week since having the baby and going on this trip so I have to get caught up before really getting into this (plus I need the bride & groom’s photos too).

[B.M.]

Great start!

[honeybee723]

I haven't missed anything at all! Can't wait to read all about it.

[KMB733]

I'm so excited you are doing a TR. I saw your pics on FB and it looks like you had a wonderful time!

[chezp]

Great start!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Kelly!

[lauriep]

Glad you're doing a report! Can't wait to see the pics.

[islandgirl]

Can't wait to see your pictures!!

[debrabrown]

LOL! Love the title - how true, how true, but that means potty training so that's a good thing.

[sc507]

Great start - tropical pictures will make me happy in all this snow we're having!

[mommapants]

Cool start Kelly - can't wait to hear and see all about it. I'll be taking Evan overseas in Feb. so will love to hear any advice you gained traveling internationally with Dylan.

[OhToodles!]

Originally Posted by honeybee723

I haven't missed anything at all! Can't wait to read all about it.

I told you!

Originally Posted by KMB733

I'm so excited you are doing a TR. I saw your pics on FB and it looks like you had a wonderful time!

Thanks Kathy! We did.

Originally Posted by debrabrown

LOL! Love the title - how true, how true, but that means potty training so that's a good thing.

Yes! Potty training is great!

Originally Posted by sc507

Great start - tropical pictures will make me happy in all this snow we're having!

Tell me about it! OK, so it's only snowed once here, but it's COLD!

Originally Posted by mommapants

Cool start Kelly - can't wait to hear and see all about it. I'll be taking Evan overseas in Feb. so will love to hear any advice you gained traveling internationally with Dylan.

I'll do my best, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - until coming home that is.

[Eeyoresmom]

I've wondered about traveling out of the US with a toddler, too! I'm looking forward to this TR!

[MayraLR]

Great start!! Love your title!

[OhToodles!]

Since I don’t have any pictures until we get there I’ll share what happened until we arrived in the Dominican.

I think I set the alarm for 3:15am, but I think I’d been ‘awake’ since about 2am, so at 3 I decided to get ‘ready’ – meaning get dressed, make myself presentable as possible for 3am, and finish packing the last minute items. I tried my hardest to only check one suitcase for Dylan & I, and I would have succeeded if it weren’t for the 50 pound weight limit. (Space bags are the best invention ever for packing!). So I had one big suitcase and another smaller one that had all the swim stuff in it (life jacket, pail with sand toys, suits (2 for each of us), sunscreen) and 25 boxes of crayons – gifts for children to hand out on an excursion we planned to take. I also had a backpack for each of us (thank you Children’s Place, 2 backpacks for $5; and they’re pretty good sized) that had all our carry on essentials. I had been gathering small toys, coloring books, etc. for months so Dylan would have new stuff to play with on the plane.

I woke Mike up about 3:30am and he started to load the car while I got Lukas (the baby) ready. I waited until the last possible moment to wake Dylan up and he was quite the trooper. Getting him ready was easy since he fell asleep in his clothes the night before. J At 4am we left the house to head to the airport.

We were at the airport by 4:30am and my Mom met us outside to help me with Dylan and the bags – Mike just dropped us off and went home to feed Lukas and go back to bed. (I guess I should say he didn’t go with us because Lukas was only 10 weeks old when we left on this trip (he’s 12 weeks now) and he stayed behind to take care of him. This also saved us a ton of money because for the 4 of us to go was quite pricey; in the end that didn’t really matter anyway as my parents paid for Dylan & I to go anyway. Thanks Mom & Dad! J)

We got in line with everyone else to check in. It was a bit of a wait but soon enough we were at the counter and they checked our passports (I’d forgotten to sign mine & Dylan’s, so I had to do that) and then it was on to go through security. I’d been nervous about this as I wasn’t sure if STL airport had the new body scanners or not – online said no, but someone told me yes. I’m pretty sure I saw them, but we just went through the standard metal detector. They did ask about one of my bags –it had the digital & video camera inside another bag inside the backpack, so they took the camera bag out and ran it back through then we were good to go. Dylan did really good and didn’t really have any problems. Thank goodness!

We found our gate and set the bags down and had others watch them so we could grab breakfast. I was hoping Dylan would stay with Becki (the bride to be) or my Dad, but he wanted to go with me. So back to Starbucks we went and I got milk for him, pumpkin spice latte (heaven!) for me, and a chocolate muffin for us to share. I think it was around $7-8 for this. He kept trying to run off on me and I wasn’t having it. So this was the first of many ‘talking tos’. J He finally stayed near enough and we weren’t in as crowded of space that he could run a little ahead of me.

Soon I heard the infamous “I have to go potty” so off to the companion bathroom for us both. I’m pretty sure Dylan had a pull up on until now and so I reluctantly put big boy underwear on him. I was nervous how he’d do on the plane.

After a potty break they were starting to board the plane, so I quickly handed out the goodie bags I’d made everyone. I made 30 of these in total and meant to give extras to the flight attendants (a la Cam & fam) but I guess a 3 year old is too much distraction to remember this.

We waited a while to board as a 4.5 hour flight was going to be long enough to keep Dylan cooped up and occupied. Soon we were in our seats. We were in row 7 with my parents and Dylan on one side and me and some strangers on the other. Almost everyone else in the group was several rows behind us. In total there were 27 people that attended the wedding and 25 of us all traveled on the same flights to/from STL.

Up next…can I keep a 3 year old occupied on a 4.5 hour flight???

P.S. One of the traveling documents I’d brought with me was a notarized and signed statement from DH stating that I had permission to travel out of the country with our minor child. I ended up not needing it but on our return to the US the customs person did ask where Dylan’s Dad was. I’d watched a cruise special where this document was going to prevent some people from being able to board the ship so I made sure to have one just in case.